AUSTIN - After an onslaught of concern from lawmakers and industry over proposed multimillion-dollar fee increases for programs he oversees, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said Friday he will delay implementing the hikes until Jan. 1.

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In announcing the month-long delay, Miller said he also has requested authority from the Legislative Budget Board to transfer appropriations within the agency and use unexpended balances.

The budgeting tools would give the Texas Department of Agriculture “much-needed flexibility in working to implement a fee schedule that meets the Legislature’s full cost recovery mandate. Both tools could also impact the scope of changes to TDA’s fee schedule in the long run,” Miller said.

The cost-recovery mandate refers to recouping the cost of administering programs from affected industries.

The increases would cover an additional $11.3 million annually in program costs, or $22.6 million over two years. They had been scheduled to take effect Dec. 8.

After publishing the proposed fee increases for public comment, Miller said, the agency got feedback from industry asking for additional time to plan for changes.

"It is for these two reasons — industry feedback and pending requests before the LBB — that I have decided to delay the implementation of the new fee schedule until Jan. 1, 2016,” Miller said.

Miller has been under pressure from fellow Republicans, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and a host of House lawmakers, to delay the fee increases to ensure they wouldn’t have harmful economic effects and to allow time for a legislative look at their necessity.

Nearly half of the House chamber, 72 members, signed a Nov. 6 letter to Miller asking him to hold off on the proposed fee increases to ensure the hikes won’t cause “potentially catastrophic economic difficulties.”

On the Senate side, the Agriculture, Water and Rural Affairs Committee plans a Dec. 8 hearing on the proposed increases.

Miller has said lawmakers themselves set the stage for the fee increases when they denied more of the state funding increase he requested for the current two-year budget period.